Alaska, Wyoming, and Florida Hold Primary Elections for Governor and Senate
Primary results in three states will shape the November ballot in competitive races, while a California special election advances to fill a vacant House seat.
Voters in Alaska, Wyoming, and Florida cast primary ballots on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, to nominate candidates for governor and U.S. Senate contests, according to reporting by The New York Times. Simultaneously, a California congressional district moved forward in a special election process to identify a replacement for a former member of Congress who departed under circumstances The New York Times described as disgrace, though the specific district and the name of the departing representative were not identified in the available source material.
The Alaska U.S. Senate seat carries particular structural interest because Alaska uses a ranked-choice voting system for general elections, a format adopted by state ballot initiative in 2020 (Ballot Measure 2). Primary results from Alaska will determine which candidates advance to the ranked-choice general election under that system.
Wyoming's gubernatorial and Senate primaries follow the state's standard closed primary format, in which only registered Republicans and Democrats may vote in their respective party contests. Wyoming has sent only Republican candidates to the U.S. Senate since 1977, according to the Congressional Research Service's historical records of Senate composition.
Florida's primary contests for both governor and U.S. Senate will determine nominees ahead of November general elections. Florida holds regularly scheduled elections under Article IV, Section 5 of the Florida Constitution, which sets four-year terms for governor. The specific candidates appearing on each state's ballot were not detailed in the available source material.
What remains unknown at this time includes the specific congressional district involved in the California special election, the name of the former representative being replaced, the full candidate lists for each state's primary, and the vote totals from Tuesday's contests. Official certified results will be filed with each state's Secretary of State office and will be publicly accessible through those agencies' election division portals once canvassing is complete.